


Technique

by silvered_glass



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Hand & Finger Kink, M/M, Oral Sex, Recreational Drug Use, disconcerting wanks, mistaken cut fruit purchases, pre xfactor judge louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-30 16:21:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17227346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silvered_glass/pseuds/silvered_glass
Summary: “Sorted,” says Harry, when clearly nothing is at all.“What’s sorted?” asks Alexa who’s just walked back in with Lou and Sam.“Louis’ going to teach me the piano,” Nick says.Louis is trapped. He can hardly announce to all these people he actually has no idea how to play, let alone when Lou is there, she’ll just go and tell Lottie and then he’ll never hear the end of it.“Yup. Ah just off to the loo,” he offers by way of confirmation and giving the beer back to Nick almost runs out of the room.↜↝Wherein Nick can't play piano but thinks Louis is going to teach him and wherein Louis can't play piano, but can develop a hand kink.





	Technique

**Author's Note:**

  * For [icarusinflight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/icarusinflight/gifts).



> Icarusinflight, I hope you like this mess that I made with love for you.
> 
> Thank you to [pillarboxred](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pillarboxred) and [Writcraft](https://archiveofourown.org/users/writcraft) for laughing but encouraging me about this whole idea. And a massive thank you to [Shiftylinguini](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiftylinguini), [Jiksa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jiksa/pseuds/Jiksa) and [Writcraft](https://archiveofourown.org/users/writcraft) for various beta reads and lovely comments (all errors remaining are my silly fault.)

_‘Elderflower comes from the potentially toxic Elder plant’_ Louis reads off his phone. Ha! He knew Harry was trying to poison him.

Louis slides the phone back in his pocket and immediately wants to pull it out again, at least maybe then he’d look like he had more to do than drink this horrid cocktail Harry had pressed into his hands. People might think he's reading important emails about pop star stuff. No one has to know he’s just killing time with random google searches about how bad something has to taste before it’s categorised as a poison because he’s a bit uncomfortable.

He looks around the room again while sipping his Elderflower Martini. He’d kill for an ale. Something pale. Summery. He misses LA. He never has to go to Harry’s parties in LA.

Technically he didn’t have to come to this one either, but he’d had nothing on, and he’d missed Harry’s last two birthdays altogether and he’s been trying to be in touch more. Trying to see people more often. The more regularly he sees people the less they give him sad questioning eyes and tell him how well he’s holding up, to which he always wants to ask ‘how the fuck would you know when I don’t know day-to-day how I’ll feel?’ It’s been over a year now, and some days he’s golden. And some days he’s not holding anything up at all, let alone doing it well.

It’s not a huge party, and after a quick hello chat with Harry when he first arrived, he’s spent most of the thirty minutes he’s been here talking with Lou. He waves a hand in Gemma’s direction, he’ll go say hello in a moment. After he’s got himself a new drink. He throws the rest of his glass back in one gulp and heads back to the bar.

The thing about going to a party at Harry’s in London is that all Harry’s normal London friends are here.

Which means Nick Grimshaw; leaning against the temporary bar, waving around a bottle of beer, wearing some trainers Louis really wants to steal for himself and laughing loudly. Why does Nick Grimshaw get beer?

Louis stands at the bar in small amount of space that Nick and his group aren’t taking up, waiting while the girl behind it finishes mixing whatever fancy - possibly poisonous - cocktail that one of Nick’s friends is having. Nick has his back to him and is telling a story about someone falling over, which apparently involves a lot of movement, what with the waving around of that damn beer bottle and with the way he steps back onto Louis. Actually onto his foot.

“Fuck!” Louis swears sharply as he stumbles a bit, jumping back. “Watch yourself, Grimshaw.”

“Louis Tomlinson! Sorry!” Nick smiles so brightly it’s like stepping on Louis’ poor toes is the best thing he’s done all week. “I didn’t see you there, you look good, I like this jumper you have on,” he says very quickly.

Louis looks down at his jumper. It’s Supreme, says _‘World Famous Supreme’_ on it. That’s probably a bit on the nose isn’t it? Louis looks back at at Nick, his eyes are quite nice, he’d thought that when he went into see him last year on his show. But then he’d thought maybe it was just all those bright lights they had on, his sisters are always using them to look better in their instagrams. He figured they must have done something to Nick’s eyes as well. But Harry doesn’t have any bright lights, just a trademark billion candles and some no doubt very fancy pre-programmed lighting design and Nick’s eyes seem sparkly and so maybe Nick just has nice eyes.

“Better to be world famous than what, domestic well-recognised innit? He says, giving Nick a trademark eyebrow raise and a little smirk. Classic Tommo cheek. He can do this fancy party thing.

Nick’s eyes flick over to where Louis can hear Harry chatting and then back again quickly, “Is it?” he asks a little too seriously.

“Not always.” Louis swallows. “Hey, where’d you get that beer?”

Nick looks at the bottle in his hand like he forgot it was there. “Oh the fridge. It’s horrid, do you want it? I don’t have germs, I want one of those elderflower cocktails Alexa is getting.”

Louis rolls his eyes. Takes the bottle.

 

He’s probably going to go soon. He would have gone a while ago, but he got talking to someone who does animation for games and then there was food going round and he really likes little quiches. Then he thought he should say goodbye to Harry, but he’s always with someone who Louis doesn’t want to get introduced to. So instead Louis had snuck into the kitchen and snaffled another one of those beers, two little sausage rolls that ended up being full of spinach— he’s got thoughts on that— and now he’s wandered into Harry’s, what, room off his sitting room? Smaller sitting room? Harry has too many rooms.

It is cosier in here. Different from last time he was over too. Well, that had been what, years ago, before the last show maybe. No, during promo for the last album. Louis sits down absentmindedly at the piano stool. He’s pretty sure Harry can’t play the piano. But then again Harry didn't used to be able to play the guitar either.

It’s open and he plonks away randomly at some keys. He thinks maybe he's had a good attempt at all this but he’ll be happy to go home and have a smoke and play some FIFA and sleep. He can’t remember if the housekeeper came today, if they did he’ll have shopping in. Should have some Coco-Pops. That’d be nice.

“Are you playing Louis?” Harry’s behind him. “Old favourites?”

Louis twists around and grins at him. Harry’s smiling cautiously back.

“Sure, greatest hits,” Louis replies and starts to pick out _How to Save a Life_.

Harry comes and stands on his right side, starts singing along. His enunciation is perfect, it’s an improvement on the original Louis thinks. By the time Louis remembers to use the pedal Harry’s voice is loud enough that people are coming in the room.

“Oohh, a sing-a-long!” calls out a man with a beard called Jack. And they join in then, all of them, London’s fashion elite and Louis’ fingers clumsily plonking over the keys. It’s been a long time since he played. No one notices, they are mostly just looking at each other, smiling and singing and that’s nice. Louis likes it when people smile and sing to music he’s making. He hits a bum note and concentrates properly to bring home that final chorus.

“Play another one!” a woman Louis has met before but whose name he never can remember calls out. She’s got her arm around Nick Grimshaw and is swaying on her feet a little. Louis looks up at Harry.

“Stick with the tour bus classics.” Harry smiles a proper Harry smile. And that is nice, really. Harry’s eyes all a bit shiney like how they get when he’s had a few drinks and he’s happy and they are having a nice little moment and thank god Harry is happy with the classics because the truth is Louis still only knows how to play three songs and one of them is a One Direction tune.

 _Mr Brightside_ goes down a treat. Harry’s _so_ loud and Louis repeats the chorus by accident but it’s alright. They are all drunk and at the end of it thank god someone says ‘I need a cigarette’ and most people seem to head out the big French doors to Harry’s courtyard.

Harry doesn’t, and Nick doesn’t. And when Louis looks up at Harry he’s grinning over the top of Louis’ head at Nick. Louis is literally in the middle of some type of moment.

“Having fun, Grim?” Harry asks.

Louis picks out some random notes, tries the start to _Summer Nights_ cautiously with one finger. Nick Grimshaw comes over and takes a sip of Louis’ beer.

“You’re pretty good at that Louis, you gonna play on tour then? Bit Tom Odell mixed with EDM?”

“Louis would be more Fiona Apple though,” Harry cuts in.

“Ooh yeah I like that, picture him straddling...”

Louis hits three notes that are wrong. It sounds horrid. But the idea of Nick picturing him straddling anything is. What. Unsettling. No. Not really. Intriguing maybe. Now that’s unsettling.

“I always wanted to play,” Nick says wistfully. He lowers his hand that’s holding Louis’ beer and hits a key with a narrow out held pinky finger. Seeing how it’s close, Louis snatches his beer back out of Nick’s hand.

“Louis, you should teach Nick!” Harry suggests with the enthusiasm of a madman. Louis always thought he was quite sane old Harry, but no. Apparently crazy.

Louis chokes on his beer. “What? Ha. Good one Haz.”

“Well you were just saying earlier tonight you don’t have much on this month while you're waiting for promo to start. You should teach Nick.”

Nick had laughed at first when Harry had started speaking but all of a sudden Nick stops and says, “Oh, you know what, that’d be great actually.”

Louis gulps at his beer. He couldn’t. Aside from the fact that he’s never successfully taught anyone anything, well, apart from Liam to check his shoes before putting them on as Louis used to leave stuff in them all the time and Zayn how to roll a joint properly and he’s pretty good at showing anyone who wants to learn how to do a instep kick. Although that often just ends in him trying to show off and shoot top bins. Been ages since he had a proper kick about. Now's not the time for longing for a footie pitch though, it’s a time for panic.

He doesn’t actually know how to play piano.

He just taught himself a few songs off of YouTube when he was about fifteen, and somehow early on during band promo it turned into him being this amazing piano player. And maybe he didn't stop it. It felt nice to be able to mention it in interviews and such in the start, all the other boys had these amazing voices, or Niall and his guitar and they seemed proper musical and Louis was still a little lost sometimes about what he did asides from bolster the chorus, so yeah. He would sometimes talk about how he played piano.

It seems to have completely slipped out of Harry’s mind that he’s, in all the years, only ever seen Louis play three songs, just three songs, who knows how many times over.

“Louis?” Harry prompts.

Louis looks up, Nick Grimshaw is looking at him and his eyes are big, open, hopeful maybe. It's disconcerting. Louis doesn't know how to say no.

Harry answers instead, “Of course you will, won’t you Lou? Hey Grim, did I tell you about the time Louis taught us how to circumvent the fire alarms in our hotel in New York?”

Nick Grimshaw is still looking at him, “Is that alright? I’d be proper grateful. I’ll come round yours and you won’t have to do anything, I’ll get you something massive in return. Well. You probably have everything, Mr World Famous.”

“That’s Pitbull ain't it?” Louis says feebly. Wishing he wore a different jumper. Wishing he never sat down at the piano stool. Wishing he never came out.

“Sorted,” says Harry, when clearly nothing is at all.

“What’s sorted?” Asks Alexa who’s just walked back in with Lou and Sam.

“Louis’ going to teach me the piano.” Nick says.

Louis is trapped. He can hardly announce to all these people he actually has no idea how to play, let alone when Lou is there, she’ll just go and tell Lottie and then he’ll never hear the end of it.

“Yup. Ah just off to the loo,” he offers by way of confirmation and giving the beer back to Nick almost runs out of the room.

 

He goes a little bit later. Harry gives him a massive cuddle goodbye and Louis is happy. He’s a bit mopey at the moment he knows, sort of treading water waiting for the next thing to happen and he tends to hide away a bit sometimes, but he is glad he came. Harry smells like that Tom Ford he uses and he still tries to tuck his face into a person’s neck when he hugs them and he says he really likes the present Louis got him, which is good. Louis hadn’t really put too much thought into it. He’d rung a record store in Camden, asked what the four rarest vinyls they had were, been told how much they were, asked them to just maybe send over three. He’s not actually sure who all the artists were, one seemed to be a band from Spain he’d never heard of, but he had chosen the gift bag from W H Smith himself.

So it’s been nice seeing Harry and it’s nice having a hug goodbye with Harry, just then he also says, “Oh and I gave your number to Grim, for the lessons, make sure you answer him when he calls you Louis.”

And that puts a damper on Louis’ warm fuzzies.

 

It’s a bit of a drive from Harry’s back to his. Certainly long enough for Louis to turn the heating up in the back of the car, and to find out that there are not a lot of results for the searches ‘how to learn piano in a day’ or for ‘instant piano expert’ or for ‘what to do when you’ve accidentally fooled people into thinking you know how to play the piano.’

Instead he buys some books for overnight delivery, _Learn Piano : The Beginners Guide for Learning Piano: The Guide to Learn Piano Like a Pro_ and _Teaching Little Fingers to Play : John Thompson's Modern Course for the Piano_ then he throws in _It's Never Too Late to Play Piano : A Learn as You Play Tutor with Interactive CD_ at the end. Louis really wants to know why every piano book has a million components to the title, it’s like they were all written by Fall Out Boy. He also wonders if the CD is totally necessary. He may have to buy a CD player. He’ll deal with that in the morning.

When he gets in he flops down on the couch, rolls himself a joint but just leaves it there on the coffee table. Instead he sits in front of the TV. He doesn't turn on the PlayStation even. Just sort of stares at his phone. Puts ‘piano’ into the search on Instagram and spends a while looking at videos of kids younger than his sisters playing like Mozart himself and then after a bit of mindless scrolling somehow ends up on Nick Grimshaw’s feed.

He scrolls down to last July before he freaks himself out, thinks that he’s accidentally liked a picture of Nick’s dogs, tongues lolling out of their mouths, panting in the summer sun and sends himself to bed.

 

↜↝

 

In the morning, well, it’s just after noon, but close enough, Louis wakes up with the realisation that it’s all going to be okay. That Nick was probably drunk, or high or both and will have no recollection of the whole thing and even if he did would certainly not be following up on it. It’s a beautiful realisation and Louis is confident it’s going to be a wonderful day.

He heads straight to the shower, thinks maybe he’ll have a quick cheeky wank, and that’s where his morning starts falling apart a little. He’s got the water at the right temperature, and his hand nice and soapy and he’s just getting starting to get fully hard, playing with the head of his cock a little when he’s suddenly thinking what it would be like to be straddling Nick Grimshaw.

Maybe on a piano bench. How would that work though? Louis slides his hand up the full length of his dick again slowly, pondering. Or maybe Nick could put him over a bench? No that wouldn’t work, wrong height. Height. Nick is tall, could put him up against the wall maybe. Ohh, Louis starts moving his hand properly, that would do it. Nick holding him against a wall, Louis’ legs wrapped around him - straddling him, but against a wall. Their dicks rubbing together, maybe a bit messy, Louis wonders if Nick gets a bit wet at the tip. He’s got big hands, they’d fit round both their dicks. Louis hisses a bit, tries to wrap his hand around his own width more, tries to feel like his hand was larger. God, maybe Nick would hold him up. Slowly slowly working them both over, was his one hand, Nick’s mouth on Louis neck, that spot he loves just at the base of his neck, his other hand splayed across his arse, his long fingers just grazing Louis’ rim while he squeezed tighter as his other hand went over the head of Louis’ cock.

Louis plays with his slit a little as he imagines Nick doing it, his large thumb circling the head of his dick and just the tip brushing a little roughly over his slit. He starts fucking properly into his hand and braces himself against the tile. He shudders a little, he’s so close to coming. Fuck, he’d come spilling all over Nick’s hand and Nick wouldn’t stop, he’d keep moving, wanking them both off using Louis’ come, making a mess of them both. Louis wouldn't want him to stop until he’d come too, Louis shaking and over stimulated and feeling so fucking ..

He looks down at the come that has landed on the tiles in front of him and on his hand. Huh. He guesses what he’s feeling is really fucking disconcerted.

Fuck.  

He just wanked off to the idea of Nick Grimshaw wanking him off.

He’s going to google more about Elderflower, he’s sure he’ll find it’s reported to have medium to long-term effects on a person’s wherewithal. Side effects; Disconcerting Wanks. If it doesn’t he’ll tweet someone. Complain to someone. If he can get emergency Domino's home delivered by tweeting surely he can expose the Elderflower poisoning scheme

He reaches for the shampoo and suddenly starts laughing. What the hell is he thinking, even if it would expose some sort of poisoning people via on-trend herbal cordials conspiracy, it’s still not at all on to be tweeting about disconcerting wanks. Maybe there’s an anonymous tip off line he can call.

Louis sticks his hand under the shower spray and starts singing Green Day, _‘It all keeps adding up, I think I'm cracking up.’_

 

He puts on some old joggers and goes downstairs. There are Coco-Pops in the cupboard and plenty of milk, so it’s happy days. He’s going to put the last forty minutes, and well— actually all of last night, for that matter— behind him and just relax.

He heads in to sit on the sofa in his living room, a bowl of cereal balanced on his lap and reaches for his phone which he left abandoned down here last night. There are a fair few notifications, he checks his emails to see if there’s anything urgent from his P.A, and his equilibrium is further restored when there is nothing that can’t wait until she emails him at least two more times, or actually tries to call him. He flicks on the TV and starts scrolling through his other notifications.

Louis rewards his work ethic of checking the emails from his PA first with a big slurpy spoonful of cereal and some random Instagram scrolling. He adds a nice call out on a post of Calvin’s and like on one of the footie update accounts and then has a look at his messages.

He nearly drops his phone in the bowl of Coco-Pops.

There's a new message thread from a number he doesn’t know, the first one received at 7.28am.

_**Unknown:** Louis. Thank you for agreeing to the lessons. I’d really like to get started asap. I said I would come to yours, but if it was during the week maybe you could come to mine? In consideration for my terrible early mornings?_

_**Unknown:** I’m buying a keyboard today in honour of it!_

_**Unknown:** Obviously aware I’m asking several favours that I am happy to return. Need a DJ for a party? Club memberships?_

_**Unknown:** Actually. Do you have any recommendations?_

_**Unknown:** For the keyboard_

_**Unknown:** Or other things. Always open to recommendations. Do you have a good butcher?_

Louis is exhausted and he’s slept at least four and half more hours than Unknown Number. He drops the phone on the sofa and concentrates on the rest of his breakfast.

Around the same time as he takes his last spoonful, he gets a picture message of Nick sat at a keyboard. He’s got his eyes shut and his hands posed in a dramatic way above the keys. There’s a quite handsome man wearing a name-badge sat next to him. All blond hair and he’s looking at Nick with a dopey expression.

_**Unknown Number:** Feeling real maestro vibes from this one. What do you think?_

It’s a pity he’s got those nice eyes shut is what Louis  thinks. And then stops himself from thinking.

Jesus. Best if he doesn’t reply. Maybe if he just holds off a little longer it’ll go away somehow. Maybe the sales assistant will offer to give Nick lessons. That’d be good. Would get Louis out of it all without Louis having to pretend he has to go back to LA all of sudden.

Although.

Louis opens the message again, looks at blond name-badge guy again. He’s sitting far too close to Nick to be professional. Louis doesn’t really like the look of him to be honest. Doesn’t look like he’s got any more knowledge of the piano than Louis does. And the way he’s looking at Grimshaw like he’s the best thing since Greggs started delivering makes Louis uncomfortable. He’s obviously enamoured. No way he’s going to be a fair teacher, probably just listen to Nick butchering I've Got Sixpence and tell him he’s the next Elton.

It’d be charitable for Louis to teach Nick after all. He'd be a fair teacher. Let him know when he hit a bad note. Not like blond softie in the piano shop with the big shoulders.

It’s then that Louis simultaneously gets a message from Harry and a buzz from the gate. He checks the camera and lets the courier up the drive and looks at his thread with Harry.

_**Harry:** Nick says you are leaving him on read. I said you were probably asleep. Or something. Falling asleep repeatedly after reading his messages. That’s what you're doing right?? You’re not backing out?_

Fuck. He doesn’t want Harry to think he’s backing out. He’d have to make up a reason why. And the only reason he can think of is saying that he doesn’t know how to play. Which. Well the whole thing is he doesn’t really want people to know that.

As he walks to the front door to sign for his delivery he opens up the Unknown Number thread

_**Louis:** Hi Nick. Sorry been flat out all morning. Just got home for the afternoon now. I am not sure about keyboards, surely you know a lot of proper players? Actually surely you know someone else be better qualified to teach you? You must know every musician in the UK?_

His phone starts ringing almost as soon as he presses send.

“Hello?”

“Hi! Louis! How are you, it’s Nick!” Nick sounds the same on the phone as on the radio Louis thinks. It’s sort of comforting.

“Hi mate,” Louis answers. “You alright?”

“I'm just driving. Actually I was thinking I'd just pop over now, seeing as you said you were home this afternoon. I'm feeling inspired. Full of creativity.” He’s smiling, Louis can hear it in his voice. Making a joke. Bloody hell. A joke.

Louis stomach flips inside out. Shit. “Umm,” he sticks the phone awkwardly between his ear and his shoulder as he opens the door.

“I can pick you up some food or something, anything really.”

“Yup. Thanks. That’s great.” Louis says to the delivery man as he signs his little scanner thing.

“Wonderful. What would you like?” Nick answers.

Louis nudges his door shut with his hip, “What? Oh.”

“Sandwich? Mango? Coffee?”

“Mango?” Louis murmurs. He would quite like a burger, he supposes. He is pretty sure that this afternoon is going to end in some sort of inescapable embarrassment, so he might as go out having at least got a Big Mac out if this situation.

“Great! I’ll bring you some sliced mango. I know roughly where you are, dropped Harry off once but text me your street number alright? Thanks so much Louis, be there soon!”

And Louis is left standing in his hallway, heavy package of what he can only assume is those ridiculously titled piano books in his hands and a heavier feeling in his stomach.

 

Nick has a nice car. That’s the first thing Louis thinks as he looks at it in his little security monitor to buzz Nick through the gate. Louis has gone into performance mode, gelled his hair up, put on a sleeveless t shirt and is necking his second Red Bull. He can do this. He just has to think about it as an appearance on a show or something. Bluff his way through. It’ll be fine.

That said, he also messaged Oli and asked him to call with an emergency in fifteen minutes time. So easy out clause, it’ll be fine. He hopes. His palm is pretty sweaty when he opens the door though.

Nick Grimshaw is holding two full bags of shopping, his car keys, his phone, a large thin envelope stuck between his left pinky and ring finger and a tray with two takeaway cups. He’s got a pair of sunglasses on that hide his eyes and that’s the only reason that Louis is looking at his lips quite so much. His lips and his hands. How is he holding so much stuff? Also is it cold out? Why are his lips so pink? Harry probably gave him some of that bloody ph lip stuff he’s crazy for. It’s got to be unnatural.

“Ah, hi?” Nick says after a moment.

Louis collects himself, “Sorry, come in mate. Need a hand with all that?” he nods his head towards Nick Grimshaw’s stupid overly full hands.

“It’s alright, I like your place, proper suburban out here.”

“Room for a goal.” Louis explains, shutting the door with a push of his foot and then walking in front of Nick up the hall. He takes him into the sitting room where Nick starts putting everything he’s brought with him down on the coffee table and is looking out the french doors.

“Oh, that’s a huge back garden half a pitch surely?”

Louis is watching Nick take out baguettes and sandwiches and bottles of scarily green juice. “Do you have any idea how long a pitch is?” he asks him.

Nick looks up and finally takes his sunnies off. They go the table beside everything else that he inexplicably managed to carry and he grins unabashed, “Not a clue. I brought you your mango though,” and he holds out a little tub of fruit.

“I didn’t. Oh. Okay. Thanks.” Louis takes it and flops down on the sofa, he rubs his finger along the slightly sharp edge of the little container. Maybe if he takes a really long time to eat the mango Oli will call with the emergency and it’ll all be over.

Nick Grimshaw is a little uncontained in a one on one situation. “I also bought stuff for lunch, got you a coffee, and this,” Nick points his pinky at that thin large envelope while he picks up the green juice bottle, and starts to undo the lid, “is my song instructions.”

Louis swallows even though he’s not even got a bit of mango out of the carton yet.

“Your what?”

“My instructions, for the song, all the notes and fiddly bits, I figured you can read them and teach me the hand movements, no way I can learn what that all means in time but I’m good at hands.”

Louis looks at the things. Nick’s things. His hands. Jesus. He’s having disconcerting wank flashbacks. He really doesn't need to be thinking about if Nick is good with his hands. But he is of course now. They seem bigger even when he’s looking at them now then in his mind. Long fingers, nice knuckles. Could really get a grasp on things. Wrap around a person’s wrists or grab a guy’s arse in a satisfying sort of way. The kind of way he was thinking about in the shower.

Louis swallows.

When he looks up at Nick again his lips are wet from his dumb green drink and he’s got a sort of nervous half smile on his face.

Louis is fucked.

Also, what?

“You want me to read sheet music?” Louis says slowly in realisation. Nick cocks his head a little to the side while drinking more of his green slush. “I mean, of course you do. Great. Ha!” Louis starts peeling off the lid of the mango for something to do and says in a rush, “Look I was hoping to start with some basics at first, maybe move on to proper note reading in a little bit of time.”

Nick wipes his stupid mouth with the back of one of his stupid hands, “Oh, Louis, that’s nice of you.”

Is it, Louis wonders. “Is it?”

“I mean I just want to do a fake passable version of the song and here you are offering to proper teach me from scratch, it’s sort of sweet really, never would have taken you for a teacher type.”

Louis isn’t sure why but that rankles a bit, “Wouldn’t you?” he asks a little surly.

“You are a bit bossy, I guess.”

Louis raises an eyebrow and levels Nick with a stare that has shut up many an obnoxious punter on the street or person in a suit trying to tell him what to do. In Nick’s case he pauses and then smiles oddly, his mouth a little wobbly and then he looks down quickly, his cheeks going a bit pink.

Something rushes over Louis’ skin a little. Shit.

He fumbles with the container and Nick reaches over and takes it from him saying softly, “Let me.” His left hand is like gentle but large claw, lightly plucking the container out Louis’ own sweaty palm, Nick’s fingers spread wide, a ring on his index finger flashing.

“I have little sisters, taught them stuff, taught the boys too,” he hears himself say a little petulantly. Hardly knows what he’s replying too anymore, he's defending something he actually thinks he's shite at. He always thinks he’s too impatient to teach anything, doesn't like it when people don't understand quick enough, but he doesn’t say this out loud. And it’s important to be good at teaching at the moment he thinks. Something he needs to know he can do before he decides if he’s going to sign on. He could ask Nick. Nick’s done it. He might have advice about giving advice. Fuck, Harry has certainly changed every fucking thing in his world, including Louis, on the advice of Nick Grimshaw. Maybe it’s the faint recall of that bitterness that makes Louis stay silent.

Instead he just watches as Nick peels the plastic film off the top of the mango, Louis’ heart beating a little too fast for what is really a very minor act of chivalry.

Ha. He only knows that word because of Liam’s dumb Harry Potter obsession he thinks a little randomly. Everything is being very disconcerting again, his thoughts are scattered. He sighs deeply and lets himself drop heavily into the sofa beside Nick.

“Here you go,” Nick pases the container to him and with a sudden impulse Louis deliberately grabs at it clumsily, letting his hand sit on top of Nick’s. He can feel the nails of Nick’s fingers cool and smooth underneath his palm and thinks maybe his index finger just reaches to the knuckle of Nick’s own.

He swallows again, “Thanks.”

“‘S’okay, got to keep teacher happy.” Nick grins and he flops down beside him, totally at ease, his legs sticking out under the coffee table, right hand splayed out on his thigh, other arm on the back of the sofa.

Louis’ tries to keep his mind blank, looks at Nick’s legs. They are long too. Why is he so long? Why is his arm so long on the back of the sofa? Louis couldn't touch Nick if he reached out, but Nick could just drop his hand onto Louis’ shoulder if he wanted. Shit. He shoves a bit of mango into his mouth sloppily and licks his fingers. It’s quiet, too quiet, and mango doesn’t take very long to be all chewed up and Louis can think of nothing to do but shove another bit into his mouth. He licks his fingers again.

He looks up at Nick, who looks away suddenly, sweeps his large hand through his also large quiff and says in a slightly hoarse voice, “Hey, is that a joint?”          

He says this at the exact same moment that Louis’ overwrought mind, obviously desperate to do anything to stop him thinking about all the possible long things that Nick Grimshaw may have, spits out, “So should we get on with the piano then?”

“Oh right. Okay, almost forgot,” Nick adds a little awkward laugh but Louis has seized on his previous question.

“Let’s smoke!” he exclaims, starting forward quickly and grabbing at the joint.

“Really?”

“Creative juices n all that, tap into your muse,” Louis affirms with a flick of his lighter.

 

It was a mistake. Nick’s fingers look even better holding a lit joint than just, well, being fingers. Although they are still fingers, of course.

Louis has only had two puffs. It’s no excuse for how he feels. Nick’s handing the joint back to him and looking at him oddly.

“Not what I thought I’d be doing when I woke up this morning,” he says, his voice strange, like he’s trying to hold the smoke in his lungs.

“Do you think at all in the mornings?” Louis folds his lips carefully over his teeth. Not going to share a wet joint with Nick Grimshaw. Wants to keep it nice. Keep it nice for Nick. Not sure why, but that seems important.

Fuck.

His mind’s a mess.

“Well I 'ave to don’t I? I’m working.”

Louis nods. “Of course.”

“You say that like you forgot what I do.” Nick sounds affronted. Louis feels a little worried, Nick being affronted is not keeping things nice for Nick.

“Didn’t forget, just you know, really don’t like mornings me, not just a front that. I’m always up late.”

“Smoking and playing Xbox?” Nick says.

“PlayStation. Wasting time I guess, yeah.” Louis answers a little flatly. Feels a bit dumb. He does waste time. So much of it, and he should know better probably. Can hear her voice.

“Louis?”

“Sorry, just..”

An Nick does an odd thing then. He puts his hand on Louis’ leg. They are turned a bit towards each other and Nick puts his hand so the palm of the thing is just above Louis’ knee, but it’s so bloody oversized, his fingers so long that they creep all around, all inside his inner leg, inner thigh leg. Feels nice. Heavy. Warm.

He passes the joint to Nick and takes a chance on watching him as he inhales. He doesn’t shut his eyes like Louis sort of thought he would, he’s got them open and he looks right at Louis while he inhales.

Louis has to stop himself from leaning forward to shotgun. Which is very strange.

Further to the strangeness is that Nick does lean forward. Just a little. Louis only knows because he can feel that bloody hand which is on his leg tighten its grip and slip a little further higher as he leans in. But then Nick turns his face and exhales.

“It’s good,” Nick says, his voice a little scratchy.

It is good.

Louis wants to look at Nick’s hand a lot. It’s sitting there burning a hole in his trackies. It seems so close to his dick. He really should have worn pants.

Nick makes a little cough and Louis looks at him, he’s holding the blunt in his fingers, turned so Louis could just lean in and smoke it that way. Nick holding it, Louis’ lips very close to his fingers.

“Last bit?”

Louis reaches up to take it, and as he stretches his arm the material of his vest feels very nice on his body. All soft and silky. It’s probably not a good sign he thinks, too high too quick really.

When he opens his eyes and breathes out, Nick is looking at him and he doesn’t look away this time, “You think water knows it’s wet?” he asks.

“What?” Louis coughs.

“Just thinking, your eyes, they’re sort of bright and all wet and I just wondered.” Nick says this and squeezes Louis’ thigh and then pats it, hand coming back to rest exactly where it was. Sort of like a reassuring giant that is also disconcerting.

Disconcerting. Louis has never thought thought things were disconcerting as much as he has today. And it’s all Nick really.

“Everything is a bit odd,” Louis says.

“It is!” Nick agrees with enthusiasm. Louis is surprised that Nick knows it’s all a bit odd.

“You think so too?“

“Well how is water solid but it’s not?”

Louis laughs.

“What?” Nick sounds huffy. Louis looks at him. Huffy is not keeping things nice either.

Nick has really nice lips and Louis wants to kiss him is all he can think when he looks at him. “I just. I mean, I thought you must have known what I was thinking.”

“No. Never know what you’re thinking Louis Tomlinson.” Nick’s nice lips quirk a little.

“Mostly about lips,” Louis says honestly. Stupidly.

Nick’s hand still on his leg tightens for a moment and Louis is all of a sudden very aware of how quickly his cheeks feel flushed, it’s about the same speed that Nick takes his hand away and ruffles his hair up. He then starts scratching at his own scalp.

“Fuck.” Nick laughs.

Louis flops back onto the sofa and laughs as well. “Yeah,” he agrees.

Louis flips the telly on. Antiques Roadshow. Nick reaches out and picks up the little box of mango turning back towards Louis.

“Want to watch—” he stops suddenly. “Um, I mean do you want some?”

“What do you want to watch?” Louis asks, flips the channel and looks at Nick.

“You should eat some mango. I’ll watch,” Nick tells him.

And Louis is high. He’s really fucking high. He doesn’t know where Oli got this stuff but it’s definitely more potent than what he smokes in LA, but he’s pretty sure Nick said he wants to watch him eat some mango.

“I mean I’ll watch anything - I don’t care. I might need to lie down or also stand up,” Nick says in a rush.

“I’ll eat a mango,” Louis says, his words seeming to come to him so slowly. But he’s flushed suddenly hot. He wants to eat mango for Nick. Fuck he’s so stoned.

His eyes drop to where Nick has picked up a little diced bit of fruit, Nick’s raises his hand about half way to Louis’ mouth and then stops and they look at each other. Louis realises he’s got his lips parted, as if he’s waiting for Nick to pop the fruit into his mouth. He’d lick Nick’s fingers. Fuck. He wants to lick Nick’s fingers, wants to suck them into his mouth and make them wet. Wants them in him. Oh god. Louis licks his lip and watches as Nick does the same thing. Echos his movement with a dart of a tongue and then suddenly his eyes widen a little and Nick almost shoves the fruit into his own mouth.

Which is also a thing. Because Nick licks the pad of his thumb and Louis has to turn around and pretend to be reaching wildly for a PlayStation controller and take the chance to grab a pillow and sort of shuffle down the couch and put it in between him and Nick. He doesn’t know why. Apart from he needs the chance to check himself in his track pants and make sure he’s not noticeably hard. Also to process the fact that he definitely has a thing for Nick Grimshaw’s hands.

He flicks channels until the telly is on the iguana chase from the last _Planet Earth,_ and that is an easy enough distraction to get lost watching. After about thirty minutes Nick sits up from where he’s sunk into the sofa and blinks at Louis, his eyes quite green against a faint red ring and says, “I need water and bread and cheese and pizza. I need pizza.”

 

↜↝

 

Two days later and Louis has just finished a meeting with the label. Well, a meeting at the same office as his label, but for the telly this time. He’s pulling his phone out of his jeans pocket and pulling his hoodie up all at once when he almost trips on the step from a paparazzi flash.

That’s why he picks up when Nick calls. He’s confused.  Nothing to do with that sudden rush of relief in his stomach and an impulsive instinctive gesture.

Nick and Louis had eaten pizza. Nick had not even done anything annoying like picking off the cheese or dabbing at it with a towel or even wanting something naff on the topping like corn. Nick had been happy with Louis’ jalapeno pepperoni combo and had then cleaned up the plates back into the kitchen, fetched them both a bottle of water each, and asked if they could watch Bridesmaids. Louis had agreed because Nick moving around in a somewhat purposeful manner was a bit scary. He might start on about the piano lessons again Louis had worried, but no, he asked to watch Bridesmaids, and when Louis rolled a slightly more cut-up joint they’d smoked it between outbursts of laughter. It’d been nice. Perfectly companionable. Could have been an afternoon with any of his mates.

Just. The last thing Louis remembers was falling asleep on top of Nick.

 

Louis loves his couch. It’s squishy and brilliant and huge and Niall wishes his was as comfortable. Just yeah, it is squishy. And at some point, Nick and him had both sort of ended up leant sideways into each other, and Louis had napped. And then woken up. And, this he remembers. He’d woken up, and snuggled into Nick. Who had reached out and got a pillow, put it on his lap and let Louis flop down on to it.

Louis had woken up several hours later, mouth dry and pillow in the floor somehow and Louis’ face snuggled into Nick Grimshaw’s too-long thigh. Nick’s hand on his head. And when Louis went to move Nick’s fingers had pulled at him, tangled in Louis hair as if he’d—.

What?

Been combing his fingers through Louis’ hair?

Louis doesn’t know. He’d dislodged himself, been relieved to see no patch of drool on Nick’s stupid very soft trousers and gone to put the kettle on. By the time the water boiled, a rather frazzled Nick was collecting half empty bottles of water and car keys and muttering about being four hours late for the gym. He’d gone before Louis had even got the milk out of the fridge. And while Louis took the tea bag he’d dropped into a mug for Nick and put it back in the box he’d thought how if Nick was that freaked out by the whole thing at least he’d not call again for piano lessons.

 

Louis has since then had three more disconcerting Nick related wanks, eight very long conversations with various managers and PR and label people, one very short chat with Oli, a million WhatsApp messages with all his siblings and now this meeting and the unexpected paparazzi.

“Hello,” Louis says, putting a hand up over his eyes. Should have got his fags out of his pocket not his damn phone.

“Hi Louis Tomlinson,” says Nick.

“Hi, Nick Grimshaw?” Louis confirms, then shoots a sharp look left. That pap is way too close. There are only two of them, but still. That one is within hearing distance.

“Hello,” says Nick again.

“Did that bit. Hello Nick,” Louis repeats, shielding his eyes and turning on his heel to look for his car. The driver should be here, he’d thought.

The paps, there are only two, but they are yelling like it’s a line up at the AMA’s.

“Are you at an event? Is there something on that I didn’t get invited to?” Nick sounds incredulous.

“Just the daily life of a whingy popstar ‘innit Grimmy?” Louis says a little too quickly, realising to late that Nick was joking at his own expense, not showing off.

The second pap is too close. He starts yelling, asking if Louis is talking to Nick Grimshaw about X Factor judging.   

Louis very deliberately does not swear and instead turns around to go back into reception. One of the guards from the front desk is pointing and waving at him.  Louis follows the man’s agitated movements and heads to the right, the man following him quickly and putting an arm out needlessly to stop anyone from getting close.

The car pulls up finally and Louis opens his own door climbing in and hitting the speaker button on the phone so he can do his belt up.

“..lunch?” Nick is saying.

“I didn’t hear that sorry and you’re on speaker mate,” Louis tells him as he reaches for a water bottle.

“I asked if Stacy wanted to come to lunch?” Nick says. Louis looks at his phone on the seat beside him and blinks.

“You know because of the..” Nick fades off, “Shit sorry. Just trying to joke around. Maybe another time,” and Louis’ stomach does that same thing it did when he saw Nick’s caller ID flash up on his screen.

“Nah, yeah. I’ll come.”

“Nah, yeah?” Nick sounds pleased so quickly.

“Yeah.”

Nick tells him the address and Louis repeats it to the driver even though the man is already poking at his sat nav.  When Louis hangs up, they are driving past a Pret and Louis almost asks to stop for a moment. But it’d be a bit much. Turning up with a tub of mango and explaining that for disconcerting wank related reasons Louis needed Nick to both feed him cubes of the stuff. And let Louis gag on his fingers.

 

When Nick opens the door his hair is done up all nice and he does a very odd thing where he seems like he’s going to hug Louis and then he ends up wiping his hand on his thigh and holding it out to shake. Louis is stepping forward. Years of instinctive behaviours not to show anything intimate in public meaning that he’s always quick across an entryway.

“Shit!”

“Sorry!” Nick says, now patting at Louis’ tummy where he just poked him right in the gut with all of his fingers.

“I hate your fingers,” Louis says slipping a little bit more forward and tipping his hips in so he can hook his ankle around the edge of the door to shut it. He doesn’t turn around, and doesn’t want to move inside too much. He’s never been to Nick’s, not here and not at the old place that Harry used to vanish to.

“What’s wrong with them? Nick asks, holding his hand up and inspecting either side.

Louis doesn’t tell Nick about the ways he’s been thinking about the damn things, which to be honest he’s happy with himself about, and instead says, “You just poked my appendix out of place with them.”

“Do you still have one of those?” Nick asks as he turns around and starts walking down the hall.

“Shoes off, or?”

“Off or on is fine, floor’s heated in the kitchen.”

Louis toes his Balenciaga trainers off, if only for the moment it gives him. Shoes off, he fixes the waistband of his tracksuit bottoms and runs a hand over his hair. He’d not bothered for the meeting, he stopped a long time ago. Became a thing, refusing to dress up for meetings he was meant to be intimidated about.  Of course, his tracksuits are vintage Kappa these days, so they are actually pretty fancy. He feels like somewhere along the line he’s ended up all turned about.

“Do you like salmon?” Nick calls out from wherever he is.

“No,” Louis answers and follows the noise.

Nick is standing at the bench in the middle of the kitchen looking down at some very green looking leaves and two plump orange bits of what Louis thinks is salmon. He really doesn’t eat it much.

Nick looks a bit perturbed

“Got anything else in?” Louis asks coming over and standing to Nick’s left. He puts his hand on the cool marble of the bench and looks up at Nick. That’s when he realises that he should have left his shoes on. Stupid tall git Nick.

“I thought salmon is good for brains and I’ll have to be concentrating to learn the finger patterns and so —”

“Learn the what?” Louis’ brain stalls at Nick saying the word ‘fingers.’ There is no way that Nick knows what Louis has been unable to stop thinking about. But damn if he doesn’t go all uncomfortably hot.

“Piano?” Nick tilts his head as if he’s confused. “What did you think I was inviting you over for?”

And Louis can’t answer that. Because he hadn’t really thought about it. And he can’t admit that to Nick. Can’t admit that he just wanted to see him and hadn’t even stopped to think about the ‘why is Nick Grimshaw, radio host and Harry’s mate, not mine inviting him over for lunch' of it all.

Louis pulls a green leaf off the bunch and sniffs it. Looks up at Nick and makes a face, “Thought you wanted to smoke?” he tries.

 

Nick says he’ll make them toasties. Which will be nice, Louis likes cheese and bread. He sits on an uncomfortable stool and drinks a beer that Nick gives him and cuts cheese that smells fruity and nutty all at once while Nick tells him about how he bought this cheese from the shop down the road along with his toilet paper and some yogurt and had to carry it all home in his hands because Pixie would murder him if he used a plastic bag.

“How many yogurts?” Louis asks absently. That last bit of cheese is more a chunk than a slice.

“A four pack I think it was,” Nick answers. He’s bent at the waist rummaging through a big drawer. He looks long. It’s comforting to know he was carrying a normal amount of yogurt home in his hands. Not twenty punnets or some such. Not some obscene quantity that would make Louis again have to think about the stretching and reaching and just overall capacity of Nick’s hands.

Nick stands up and turns back around, holding a fry-pan. “You alright Louis? Very quiet you are.”

Louis picks up his beer and takes a few good gulps. Then looks at Nick. The paps might have a point, Nick would be a good person to ask.

“Should I do X Factor?”

“How much is Simon offering?”

Louis raises his eyebrows.

“Fair point. So, if you don’t need the money, why would you then?”

“Not sure.” Louis cuts through the cheese again, the knife coming through too early and the slice more a small sliver. He remembers Nick saying that he wouldn’t have thought of Louis as a teacher type.

“Is he getting Cheryl back?”

“Noo.” Louis shakes his head and has another drink.

“Probably good, that’d be all the headlines wouldn’t it? You and Cheryl.”

Louis chokes.

Nick starts laughing as well, “She does like a footie player, and a lad off of One Direction, you’ve got both don’t you!”

Louis throws one of his heftier cheese slices at Nick’s face.

“What?” Nick grins, drawing the word out. “Can’t blame her, we all do, don’t we?” He’s looking at Louis like he’s flirting. Head tilted again and his eyes warm and unwavering.

“Niall is a catch.” Louis plays obtuse, feels his cheeks heat up. He wants Nick to be flirting with him. He knows this. Wants Nick to be thinking about him not Harry. Or Niall for that matter.

“He is,” Nick nods gravely. “The rest of you are obviously awful but Niall is the one.”

 

They go up the sitting room to eat. Louis carries two more bottles of beer and one of brown sauce and Nick the plates with two toasties each piled high and crispy and smelling lovely. The dogs follow them. Two dogs, who Nick had in a confusing way let back inside when it was time to eat. Louis always has to put Cliff outside when he’s got food on the table.

“I don’t like eating alone,” Nick said

Louis didn’t point out that he was there.

There’s a fancy looking keyboard set up at one end of the room but thankfully Nick heads to a big sofa and settles down there. The dogs arrange themselves on a bed by the fireplace and are much better behaved than Cliff would be.

“Cheers,” Nick says, holding out his beer.

“Cheers,” Louis repeats and looks Nick in the eyes. He’s a bit fucked even if Nick never mentions the damn lessons again. This is cosy and nice, and Nick has nice eyes and nice hands and Louis is having disconcerting wanks and jumping at the chance to answer Nick’s every phone call and he’s fucked.

Of course, Nick does mention the piano lessons again. Just as soon as he swipes his last bit of crust through the brown sauce on his plate and pops it in his mouth he says, “So, want to sit over there? Do you need to warm up? I left my sheet music and yours the other day but I got another lot. Maybe you had a chance to look it over yourself though? Like a bit of revision?”

Nick sounds nervous, which only makes Louis himself feel worse. “Um,” he manages, frantically hoping for some form of distraction to present itself. Could he fake food poisoning? He dismisses it as soon as it occurs to him. Nick’s toastie had been lovely actually. Also, he doesn’t want Nick to think of him having the runs. Nothing fit about a boy with the runs. And Louis does want Nick to think he’s fit.

“No, probably you don’t need to revise it really, do you?” Nick fills the silence with.

“Um,” Louis adds wisely.

Nick blinks at him. Looks hopeful.

“Who’s it for?” Louis asks.

“My Mum, something my Dad and her liked.”

Louis swallows and nods. He can't say no.

“Let’s do some exercises,” he says desperately. That’s a good thought, he congratulates himself. Helene always gets him to do basic exercises first, that’ll buy Louis some time.

 

Louis should learn, nothing good comes from sitting down on a piano stool. Last time he did it he ended up being roped into giving Nick lessons. This time, well. This time he’s got a half-hard dick.

When they first sat down it was fine. Nick was just a person sitting next to him. A warm, nice smelling, annoyingly attractive person, who Louis keeps having disconcerting wanks about.

“So, what do we start with?” Nick had asked.

“Fingering,” Louis had said and then felt himself turn red. Blush in a way he hadn’t for fucking years. He’d stared straight down at the little blinking lights on the controls of the keyboard and said in a rush,  “Um, just you know, seeing how dexterous you are.” Which, wasn’t really the brilliant attempt at steering things back on course but Louis’d at least been reasonably happy with how level his voice sounded.

Nick, the bastard, had sniggered.

Louis had shown Nick how to do a perfunctory C Major scale, explaining as he did, “So you slip your thumb underneath as you move up the keyboard.”

“Oh, I can do that maybe,” Nick had said. And proceeded to give Louis the strangest semi he’s ever had not including the time with Niall and the sushi.

Every second note is mangled, Nick’s fingers landing on two notes at once more often than not. But that’s not what’s hard about it all. No. It’s the slow elongated stretch of them. Louis looks slightly above them, stares decidedly at the little lit up red lights on the top of the keyboard. This is an odd sort of torture, but it’s definitely what it is.

After a few goes Nick gets more confident, smoother and faster. He goes for a double Major C scale and to hit his high C he’s fully leant over Louis.

“Alright, alright, get off me. D Major next.” Louis tries to shrug Nick off. Of course that only makes the idiot lean even further into Louis’ space. He’s just randomly batting at keys.

Louis tries to push Nick back using his shoulder. “Stop! Concentrate you ungrateful dick,” he laughs.

“Concentrate! On what, another scale? Louis, I just want to learn where to put my fingers, not how to actually play.”

 _Where to put his fingers._ “Mate—,” Louis starts.

Nick’s looking at him now, all twisted towards him and Louis hopes that his semi isn’t able to be made out in his track pants. “I do appreciate it, you being dead thorough with the lessons.” Nick says, and Louis allows himself to look at his face properly. Finds himself quickly distracted by how Nick’s got more freckles than Louis every noticed before. Nice eyes. Louis had thought that before.

“—was more thinking that you’d just demonstrate it and I’d copy you,” Nick is saying.

“Just show me that you can do one more,” Louis says, dread in his stomach. He’s going to have to come clean. It’s all going to be that much worse that he’s let it go this far. He’s going to end up a funny story Nick tells on his dumb radio show and Louis is just going to live a lonely life of disconcerting wanks.

Nick leans across and starts picking at the keys. “Things I do to make fit boys happy hey?”

“Fit boys,” Louis repeats blankly. Processing.

Nick hits a high E three times. “Yeah, _a_ fit boy.”

Louis swallows. There’s a silence that lasts for two long. Louis wonders what he should do. It seems like a very good way of getting out of having to tell Nick that he can’t teach him piano would be to maybe kiss him. It also seems a good plan because Louis really wants to kiss Nick.

Nick breaks the silence by running his fingers all the way up the keyboard so his arm is fully stretched out in front of Louis.

He sings as he plays the notes, increasing in his off-key pitch as his hand and arm move further into Louis’ space. “A - B - C - D - E - F - G - L - L - X - Y -Z - O - P,” he sings holding an elongated out of tune note following on from the P.

“Fucking idiot,” Louis jokes and shoves Nick back using his shoulder. Nick pulls his arm out from in front of Louis and quick as a flash puts it around Louis’ body and hits randomly at the keys he can reach there. Louis is boxed in, ensconced in Nick’s arms.

“I’m very good you know,” Nick announces, his breath hot on Louis ear. It’s fucking brilliant. Apart from Louis is getting hard again and he has to stop himself from arching into Nick and tilting his head so as to offer up more of his neck for Nick to, what? Breath on? No, to kiss. Louis wants him to kiss him.

Louis twists. “Let me go, you idiot.” He pinches at Nick’s chest and then stomach until Nick grabs his hand and forces him to stop.

“You are not a good teacher at all, Louis,” Nick says. “Very disruptive. Distracting with the face and the being fit and the not having a good lesson plan. A student can’t concentrate at all.”

“I have a lesson plan,” Louis tries but he knows he’s fucked. He can’t stop looking at Nick’s lips, can’t get his brain to do anything but think about how good it is being close to Nick and how long his fingers are and how Louis likes having his hands held still. He moves to stand up, and Nick goes with him. Nick’s still holding Louis’ wrist and as Louis stands and turns around Nick captures Louis’ other hand as well, so he ends up holding him in place so Louis is backed up against the keyboard. Nick is standing above him, and Louis’ arse is making some sort of cacophony as his bum is pressed back against the keys

“I don’t think you know what you’re doing at all,” Nick says, it’s gentle though. Not accusatory. If anything Nick says it so deliberately it makes Louis’ skin prickle.

“I never said I did,”  Louis replies, jutting his chin out and trying to stare Nick down.

“Can you play at all?” Nick’s voice is very low and he’s staring at Louis’ lips. Louis moves a little and another few random notes play out. “Apart from with your very admirable arse of course.” Nick half smirks.

“Nick—,” Louis says, not more than a breath.

“Alright, love,” Nick says and that’s when he bends to kiss him, still holding Louis’ wrists gently. Nick’s lips are questioning and testing at first but Louis doesn’t even think about trying to stop him or pretending he doesn’t want it.

When he does pull away Nick’s breathing is heavy. “Louis—” he starts. Louis doesn’t want him to stop kissing him though.

“Don’t stop, want it,” Louis says.

Using the grasp Nick has on his wrists Louis pushes his body into Nick’s own and leans up on his toes to kiss Nick again. It’s all encompassing. Nick knows the fuck what he’s doing just the way Louis wanted him to know what he was doing. But he doesn’t take over, let’s Louis bite into his mouth and opens willingly to Louis’ needing to taste him. When they pull apart next a smile hovers around Nick’s wet lips and he swears ruefully, “Fuck, Louis. You know how much I want to touch you?”

Louis laughs suddenly,

Nick looks instantly horrified. “Sorry I thought from the kissing that you—”

“Fuck yes I do, all I can think about is your fucking hands, it’s disconcerting as all fuck. I’ve been wanking off thinking about the things—”

It’s amazing how quickly a face can change. Nick goes from horrified to stunned to annoyingly pleased with himself in less than a moment.

“Don’t fucking start gloating.”

“I won’t, I won’t.” Nick smiles in a way that says it all anyway. He runs a thumb along Louis’ cheek. “I really want to know _every_ single thing you ever thought about me.”

Louis grins. “First time I met you, prat. Second time, dick head. Third time, utter dickhead.”

Nick kisses him hard. Swiping his tongue inside Louis’ mouth and spreading his hand out against the side of Louis’ face to hold him in place. When they finally pull apart for the third time Louis feels dizzy with it. Nick leans back a bit and looks down the length of Louis’ body.

“What did you think of, Louis? Me touching you? Can I?”

Yes,” Louis hisses, “Fuck please,” he adds on with a hitch of his breath as Nick hasn’t waited any longer now that he has permission.  He reaches down and palms Louis’ dick immediately.

“Fuck, Louis, fuck,” he says and kisses him again.

Nick slides his fingers up and down the length of Louis. Getting a proper feel for exactly where Louis’ dick is hard in his pants, and rubbing his thumb in circles round the head of Louis’ cock.

He pulls off Louis’ mouth a little bit, presses a kiss to the side of his lips and then says, “Would you let me touch you everywhere?”

Louis is hot and flushed with it immediately. _Everywhere._ “Yeah,” he says softly.

“Yeah?” Let me open you up, just keep you on the edge for as long as I’d like to.” Nick kisses down Louis’ cheek and then stops to kiss him properly. “You’ve no idea how much I’d like to make you beg me for it.”

“Yeah, I bet you fucking would,” Louis acknowledges, but without spite. Instead he angles his face up for another kiss.

“Pretty ‘naff of me?” Nick asks, he sounds bashful.

Louis pushes his dick a little more into Nick’s hand. “Eh, I’m into it,” he says with a grin.

Nick kisses him again. Slips an arm around Louis and grabs his arse and pulls him in against him. He does stop palming Louis’ cock but he cuts off the disappointed noise Louis is embarrassed he makes at this by hitching Louis up so his thigh is in-between Louis’ own legs.

Nick’s bold and Louis eager and when Nick pulls the waistband of his tracksuit away and slips his hand down them Louis doesn’t stop him.

“You’re wet love,” Nick observes, thumbing over the head of Louis' dick.

“Ni-ck,” Louis pants. He’s rocking into Nick’s hand and already feels shameless to his neediness.

“Want to come up to my room?” Nick asks the shell of Louis ear.

Louis makes an involuntary moan as Nick scrapes his teeth on the skin under Louis’ jaw.

 

By the time they get upstairs Louis is more nervous than needy. Nick’s attentive and it’s thrilling, and Louis isn’t sure if helps or fuels his nerves. Nick stops every second step and keeps up a proper commentary on how much he wants Louis, how he can’t wait to get him on his bed.

“Stop stopping then,” Louis laughs as Nick halts on a step beneath Louis’, Nick’s hands firm on both of Louis’ arse cheeks. Louis wants them inside of him.

 

Louis is under Nick, shivering and moaning. Nick has two very lubed up fingers inside him and his other hand is holding Louis down in the mattress as he writhes in response to Nick’s touches. Nick is crouched over, sucking a bruise into the skin where Louis’ stomach meets his groin, just above the covering of pubic hair. His fingers keep _just_ missing where Louis wants him to touch the most.

“Tell me what you thought about?” Nick asks.

“Piano stool,” Louis pants. “I thought of it on the piano stool. Me bent over it.”

Nick looks up. “Don’t know if it’d work but I’d love to try.” His face is right beside Louis’ dick and Louis knows now that _this_ is actual torture. “I thought of you sucking me so often, your eyes and your cheeks,” Nick continues as he twists his fingers as if to emphasise the point. As if Louis will understand that somehow his cheeks are integral to Nick’s blow job fantasies.  

“This - your fingers—” Louis gasps. He reaches down to touch his own dick, he can’t wait any more.

“I’ll do it love.” Nick moves his hand to hold the base of Louis’ dick. “Do whatever you want. This is mine you too know, just getting you like this, getting to do this with you.” He twists his fingers deep inside Louis as he opens his mouth and with no hesitation takes Louis deep into mouth.

Louis isn't even sure what type of noise he makes when Nick swallows him down. He tries to stop himself from bucking up into Nick’s mouth. It’s _so_ much all at once, Nick’s clever long fingers twisting and pressing into him, Nick’s mouth a white hot heat.

Spreading his legs open Louis can’t help but give in and push both up into Nick’s mouth and down into his fingers.

He’s not sure if he’s speaking or just moaning but Nick pulls off, mouth and chin wet, he's a beautiful mess and all for Louis.

“More, love?” Nick asks.

“Please,” Louis pleads.

Instead Nick stops for a moment, his hand working over the length of Louis’ dick. “Fuck you’re a pretty sight, all sweaty and panting for me,” he says. Then Nick swallows him again, adding a third finger. Nick has been nudging and circling Louis’ prostate for what feels like hours and only now finally does he press straight on the nub of nerves. Nick uses his thumb to rub on Louis’ perineum, really working Louis over. Louis can feel Nick's tongue flicking the thick vein on the underside of his cock and circling the head.

Louis reaches down and wraps his hands in Nick’s hair, almost as an anchor for himself more than anything. “So good Nick, love your fingers —  Gonna, gonna make me come,” he gasps.

Nick crooks his fingers in a certain perfect type of way and Louis can't hold on anymore, he comes with a cry. One of his hands dropping to Nick’s cheek, his own fingers drifting over Nick’s jaw, feeling as Nick swallows.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Louis swears as Nick pulls away but licks at the head of his cock. He stills his fingers, but doesn’t take them out. Instead looks up at Louis and wipes his chin with the back of his hand.  
  
“Alright?” Nick asks.  
  
“Amazing, fuck-ing amazing. Oh!” Louis manages to gasp out. Nick’s still touching him and it’s too much.  
  
“I want to fuck you, while you’re all open and ready for me,” Nick tells him. “Want to slip inside you, all slick and warm, fill you up and fuck you till you can’t breathe.”

“Yeah. Yes! Ah, shit!” Louis agrees in a babble, arches his back up a little as Nick starts to move his fingers again.

“But I want to come more,” Nick admits, smiling and finally pulling his fingers out.

Despite the fact that he thinks his brain has melted Louis wants to make it nice for Nick. He sits up on his elbows and says in a voice that sounds odd to himself, “Let me suck you?”

“It’s okay, it’ll take a moment.” Nick’s already shuffling into place while working himself over, toying with the head of his cock. It’s hefty and blood red and makes Louis want to get his mouth on him badly. But Nick is running his eyes all over him and that’s a sight in itself. Nick all dark eyed and intense, his hand moving furiously over his dick, getting off just looking at Louis. Nick hasn't lied, it doesn't take long. He comes with a shout, shooting come over Louis’ chest and chin. Nick is breathing heavy and thrown his head back when he came, so from where Louis is looking up he's all chest and Adam's apple and jaw line. Louis is so into him.

Nick swipes the bit off Louis’ chin, and swears softly as Louis turns to suck Nick’s finger into his mouth. Nick makes noise that is a laugh mixed with a groan and turns and flops down onto the bed.

Louis can’t help but smile at the sight of Nick. Brow sweaty and chest rising rapidly. Nick’ eyes a little glassy and oh so bright.

“What next?” Nick asks after a few moments, his breathing seems to have steadied somewhat now. Louis realises his has as well. His stomach is all upset though. Butterflies and longing.

“I’ll pay for a proper teacher,” Louis promises.

“I thought I did okay, maybe a bit rusty, you seemed happy enough a minute ago.” 

“For the piano you dick. The sex was fine.”

“The sex was fine,” Nick laughs. “I’ll do it again to get that rating up.”

Louis rolls over, looks at Nick’s pink face and sweaty chest. “I think you should. I have at least twenty more disconcerting wanks to work through.”

“Only twenty?”

“I’ll come up with something new before we’re done.” Louis runs his finger over Nick’s stomach. He wants to kiss Nick but he’s not sure if he’s meant to or not. Nick settles the matter, wraps one of his damn hands around Louis’ forearm and pulls him down.

 

They order pizza again. Nick answers the door and brings it up to bed where they sit facing each other. It’s not Domino's, it’s wood-fired and missing all the good toppings apart from some spicy sausage which Louis tells Nick he likes. Nick wiggles his eyebrows and says, “Of course you like the spicy sausage, Louis. Bang in your banger man aren’t you.”

Louis ignores him. And steals the rest of his bottle of beer.

 

“I think you should do it,” Nick says when the pizza is almost finished. “X Factor. I think you’d be good. Good value entertainment. _Very_ good face, and..” he breaks off, wraps a hand around one of Louis’ ankles. “Well, you don’t have to _teach_ anyone, just be a good mentor. You can do that, you’re a good listener. Loud so people think you don’t, but you do, don’t you?"

Louis laughs, to save the fact that he feels warm and embarrassed. “ _Don’t but you do don’t you,_  how do you have a job talking for a living?" he mocks gently.

“You going give me speaking lessons?”

“Speaking _mentorship_ innit _?"_  Louis grins.

Nick laughs easy and loud. "Tell me a story about another one of those disconcerting wanks you had, I’ll get some speaking tips.” 

“Brush up on your oral?”

That’s when Nick knocks the pizza box off the side of bed and uses his stupid hands to heft Louis up the bed a bit more so he can stretch him out and kiss him.

 

 ↜↝

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. I'm [silveredsound](https://silveredsound.tumblr.com/post/181608874910/technique-by-silveredglass-rating-explicit) on tumblr if you'd like to chat.  
> This fic must live here and here alone.


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